On July 10, Col. Karrie A. Fristoe, a Sheboygan native, relinquished command of the Medical Recruiting Brigade to Col. Timothy L. Hudson in a ceremony on Brooks Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky. Fristoe passed the brigade colors, the symbol of command, to Hudson while members of each of the five Medical Recruiting Battalions and the Chaplain Recruiting Branch stood in formation on the field.

Col. (P) James T. Iacocca, deputy commanding officer, U.S. Army Recruiting Command, officiated the ceremony. He spoke of the mission the MRB has as the only brigade within the U.S. Army Recruiting Command that recruits from the entire U.S. He lauded Fristoe for her accomplishments while serving as commander and stated that one of her significant initiatives included establishment of a Tiger Team.

The team is responsible for establishing an additional skill identifier for health care recruiters, allowing for the identification of soldiers who have experience recruiting health care professionals for future needs. The Tiger Team also identified other needs and helped create new positions for human resource technicians in the battalions, a paralegal at MRB and liaison officers from the Dental Corps and Medical Corps.

Iacocca called Fristoe a “tremendous team builder with unmatched dedication,” and then thanked her for what she has done for USAREC.

Fristoe thanked everyone for attending, as well as the 214th Aviation Regiment for providing a med-evac helicopter as a display on the field, in light of her husband — Col. John Fristoe — being a med-evac pilot.

“We recruit the absolutely unique,” Fristoe said. “The Army counts on us. In the last two years we have accessed over 3,000 healthcare workers, more than 400 chaplains, and awarded over 450 scholarships. We did this with a 10 percent decrease in recruiting strength.

“Those standing in front of you are true heroes,” she said. “They represent others back at home station. It has been a true honor to serve with so many wonderful people. I will always be an advocate for recruiting and look forward to hearing all you accomplish in the future.”

Fristoe will remain at USAREC at Fort Knox, as a special projects officer, and will then retire to San Antonio, Texas, after more than 25 years in the military.

Fristoe is the daughter of Jan Gebhard, of Sheboygan, and the late Ken Gebhard. She is a 1984 graduate of Sheboygan North High School and a recipient of the Pageants Leadership Award. Fristoe has worked in health care since the age of 16 when she started as a nursing assistant at the Sunny Ridge Nursing Home.